Save Article

Belarus Is Emerging as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe

Wargaming’s six-year-old "World of Tanks" franchise pulled in more than $550 million in revenue in 2015. The game is based on the freemium model, meaning it’s free to play but makes its money from premium features, as Mark Kelly reports. Image: Wargaming

MINSK, Belarus—Belarus is run by a former collective-farm manager and is known for manufacturing tractors. Now, the former Soviet republic wants to be known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe.

The nation of 9.5 million people sandwiched between Russia and Poland has a well-educated population and relatively low labor costs. And it has become one of the largest and most established information technology outsourcing providers in Europe. In 2015 exports from Belarus’s main IT hub totaled $705.6 million.